Many athletes and non-athletes utilize weight lifting or weight training exercises to build muscle strength and/or bulk, to prevent injury, or to improve overall condition and appearance. Typically, weight training exercises are performed with either exercise machines or free weights, i.e, barbells and weighted plates, dumbbells, etc.
Free weights offer certain advantages over exercise machines. For instance, they are relatively inexpensive in comparison to exercise machines. Free weights are also more versatile because a variety of exercises can be performed with one set of weights. On the other hand, exercise machines are usually designed for movement in a specific plane. The human body however, is by no means limited to such two dimensional movements. Thus, in an effort to replicate the benefits of multi-dimensional exercise activities, comprehensive exercise programs will incorporate both machines and free weights. In so doing, a variety of exercise routines are combined to work specific muscles and muscle groups in more than two dimensions for a more natural result.
The gluteus muscles, gluteus maximus and minimus are a compound muscle group commonly referred to as the “butt muscles”. The gluteus maximus acts at the hip to pull the thigh downwardly into alignment with the upper body while the gluteus minimus is the hip abductor, acting to pull the thigh outwardly. Since these muscles act in such diverse directions, they exemplify a muscle group which cannot be exercised on any single prior art machine.
The object of the present invention therefore, is to provide a method and apparatus for bi-directional exercise of such compound muscle groups.